


Dream a Little Dream

by STARSdidathing



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Cutesy, Developing Relationship, Dreamsharing, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Falling In Love, Feels, Fluff, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Feels, M/M, Magic-Users, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Compliant, Possibly Unrequited Love, Post-Avengers (2012), Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Protective Loki (Marvel), Revelations, Sweet, Tony Being Tony, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, threatening behaviour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 06:53:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12859158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/pseuds/STARSdidathing
Summary: Most nights, Tony finds himself dreaming of Loki.





	Dream a Little Dream

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rung_borg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rung_borg/gifts).



> Sooo, I told myself _no more posting until next month_ , but what did I do? I wrote another fic, that’s what. (Actually I have a few completed that I’m saving for next month anyway, but, shh). This one I decided to post because it was a prompt I was given from however long ago AND I AM SORRY THIS HAS TAKEN SO LONG, OMGOSH.
> 
> Rungborg prompted me in like *winces* February this year? Omg. Sorry for the late reply! Hopefully you enjoy this though! It’s... mostly in line with what you prompted? Sort of? Heh.
> 
> The prompt was:
> 
>  
> 
> _Ooh, well I wouldn't mind the pinning, that's for sure! But my prompt is more about dreams. The idea is that when someone's in love, they will start having shared dreams with the one they're in love with. Just dreams where they're together, nothing specific has to happen._  
>  _But the other person doesn't know why the dreams start, or that they actually share the dreams._  
>  _So I figured Loki has fallen for Tony, but he's scared that he'll be be discovered and/or ridiculed - and maybe it all ends with Loki pinning down Tony, threatening him if he reveals anything, or something like that.. aaaand it sorta goes from there ;)_
> 
>  
> 
> Hopefully you enjoy what I came up with!

It’s a picnic this time.

He can smell the food, feel the sun on his skin and hear the birds in the trees. There’s a beautiful, soft blanket underneath him and Tony runs his fingers over the material gently, a small smile twitching at his mouth.

He feels something shift and realises his head isn’t on the blanket, it’s on something warm and firm and a moment later long fingers are carding through his hair.

Tony doesn’t open his eyes, but he knows who’s there.

“Try to rest, Tony, you’ve had a long day,” Loki whispers and Tony smiles a little bit more.

“Wasn’t I battling you a few hours ago?” He enquires and there’s a soft pause, the fingers in his hair stilling and the body beneath him tensing.

It only lasts a moment before Loki makes himself relax. “I will not hurt you in a dream.”

Tony doesn’t open his eyes, but he continues to grin, “You don’t hurt me even when I’m awake.”

Loki doesn’t respond to that and Tony doesn’t bother to say anything else, he just lets himself be soothed by affectionate fingers scraping over his scalp. He enjoys a picnic that couldn’t ever exist and a dream that comes and fades the way that all dreams do.

When Tony wakes up the next morning, he rubs a hand through his hair and doesn’t even bother asking himself ‘ _what the fuck?_ ’ anymore. He’s been having dreams about Loki for months now; soft dreams, affectionate dreams.

He basically dreams that they’re dating.

They never kiss, they never sleep together they just... hang out. Loki likes to touch him though, soothing, loving gestures and Tony has no idea what that says about his subconscious but probably nothing good.

Especially, since, well, it’s _nice_. Tony always wakes up feeling refreshed, happy, _calm_ after he’s dreamt about Loki. He used to justify his content feelings by saying _anything is better than a nightmare_ , but now he thinks it just comes with having Loki there. 

He misses the dreams too, when they don’t show up for a few nights.

Tony had thought about mentioning it to someone in the beginning, but at the time he hadn’t known it would be reoccurring, had thought it was just a fluke - then, when it had kept happening Tony hadn’t wanted to admit what his subconscious was doing.

Now, Tony honestly isn’t sure what he’d do without them.

It can be hard though, dreaming about someone in such soft tones, only to turn around and fight them a few days later. It’s a reality check, at least, knowing that the person Tony’s imagining isn’t actually there underneath all that mischief and malice.

Or, at least, that’s what Tony thought, what he’d been sure of for months. But things change, as they often do.

He'd been out to get a coffee, craving some fresh air and enjoying the walk through the streets of New York.

It’s crisp, clear, the middle of fall and everything’s going well; his coffee is the right temperature, the right taste and he’s taken a few selfies with some giggling high schoolers at the coffeeshop. He's on his way back to the tower when he hears the screeches, the screams and he snaps his head around to search for the source.

It’s a car that has lost control. A car that is rushing towards him at a speed Tony knows he can’t avoid or survive. 

He’s going to die, by god damn _accident_.

The thought barely crosses the engineer’s mind before he feels firm, warm, _familiar_ arms grabbing him around the waist before the speeding car in front of him dissolves and the next thing he knows he’s somewhere else - a rooftop by the looks and feel of things.

Tony feels the arms disappear and turns around half expecting who he will see, even when it feels impossible. 

Yet, it _is_ Loki standing there, looking impassive and cold, as if he hadn’t just saved Tony’s life. 

As if there isn’t any other way for Tony to recognise what it feels like to be wrapped in Loki’s arms, to have got it so _perfect_ in a dream without outside help.

And Tony knows he should ask about the car accident--if everyone is safe, if anyone else got hurt--but all he can do is ask Loki with a voice that’s far more calm than it has any right to be, “You’ve been in my dreams, haven’t you?”

Loki’s upper lip instantly curls and he crosses his arms. _Defensive_ , Tony’s mind instantly categorises. He also knows Loki is going to deny it, to pretend that he hasn’t been slipping into Tony’s mind and holding him, talking to him, _loving_ him for months.

“You’re in love with me, aren’t you?” Tony says, knowing that it’s true, that hundreds and hundreds of dreams have woven together as a constant picture of Loki’s affection and longing.

Loki moves in an instant and Tony doesn’t know why he doesn’t expect it; because this is the first time he can see the Loki from his dreams? The one who is soft, affectionate, and promising never to hurt him.

 _This_ Loki picks him up by the throat and dangles him in the air. Tony tries to gasp and grips at Loki’s hand.

“I am _not_ ,” Loki hisses, utterly furious - utterly _desperate_. He looks almost panicked as he tries his best to convince Tony otherwise, as if his feelings aren’t blindingly obvious. Loki’s hold isn’t even constricting his air too badly; he’s automatically taking care _not_ to hurt Tony overly.

Tony has enough air to breathe, enough air to gasp out, “Then why have you been dating me inside my head?”

Loki’s cringes slightly, his face falling and a moment later, he’s letting Tony go. He doesn’t drop him to the ground; he lowers him, releases his hand slowly; all gestures that are far too telling.

Tony still coughs and rubs his throat slightly when Loki releases him. They’re still standing close as Loki hasn’t stepped away. The mage’s hands are by his sides now, clenched into fists.

“The dreams weren’t... intentional,” Loki bites out, looking frustrated at even admitting that much.

It makes Tony think back to the beginning, when Loki had been shocked and angry at the situation, when the dreams had been shorter, sharper and when the mage had been pushing Tony away more than he was tugging him close.

Loki quickly became more resigned though, more accepting of the situation. He started trying to talk to Tony and get closer into his space. He started to spend the time _courting_ him.

“Maybe not at first,” Tony admits, “but you knew we were sharing them from the start. You used them to your advantage only, you didn’t try to steal my secrets, you just tried to spend time with me.”

“You hardly seemed to mind,” Loki answers, sounding almost defensive. He’s scowling slightly as well, as if daring Tony to disagree. “You were relaxed in my company; you did not shy from my touch.” His eyes skitter away. “You even seemed less weary in our battles, as if you slept more soundly.”

“So you kept it up, even when you could have stopped it,” Tony quickly pinpoints, reading between the lines. “Because it was the only time you could spend with me.”

Loki _glares_ at him then. “I can still kill you in a moment, Stark. I can throw you off this roof or hurl you into the path of the next oncoming vehicle.” 

He steps closer, trying to look menacing, trying to look as if he isn’t trying to mask his feelings in rage.

But Tony isn’t truly listening, he's watching the faint horror in Loki’s eyes, the depression and resignation tightening his features. Tony is thinking about how this will end the soft dreams he’s come to look forward to.

Tony’s thinking about the fact that under all that malice and mischief the man that Tony had come to care for was actually there, just waiting to be coaxed out from the shadows.

“Stark, I assure you this changes _nothing_ ,” Loki snarls. “This will not-”

But Tony moves forward and cuts the mage off, he tilts his head, he pushes up and he presses their mouths together in a soft kiss.

Loki freezes for a long moment before slowly, hesitant hands are coming to touch Tony’s sides and then the mage is tentatively kissing him back. Loki seems unsure, not certain if he should trust it or how much to respond, but Tony just smiles into his touch.

The kiss is gentle, exploratory and never deepens beyond soft, chaste brushes of their mouths; catching and parting and never moving too far away as they continue to come back for more.

When they do eventually break apart for more than just a breath, it’s to blink and stare at each other; Loki’s hands are now tight on Tony’s hips while the engineer’s have come to grip the leather of the trickster’s armour.

“Why did you do that?” Loki murmurs quietly, his eyes running over Tony’s face, searching for an answer.

“I thought it was about time I kissed the guy I’ve been dating for the last few months.”

Loki’s brows furrow in confusion and he even shakes his head a little. “We were not-”

“Yeah, we were,” Tony tells him, huffing out a soft laugh. “And I’m kind of glad, I mean, it’s a lot better for my sanity to know I was falling for someone who was real rather than just a figment of my imagination.”

 _Oh_ , the word escapes Loki so softly that Tony almost doesn’t hear it, but he _does_ see Loki’s smile, small and pleased as he tugs Tony closer to him by the hips.

It doesn’t mean everything is suddenly solved and simple though - far from it, actually. 

Tony is going to have to explain to everyone why _Loki_ came to his rescue. He’s going to have to explain why and how he’s started dating an enemy of the Avengers. Because, he’s guessing that will have to come out; the way that Loki is holding him close and possessive does not make Tony think that ‘secret relationship’ is going to be sitting well with the mage.

It’s really not what Tony had anticipated for his day when he woke up in the morning after a picnic with Loki that he thought was impossible... but, maybe it isn’t. Maybe it’s something Loki conjured because he _wanted_ to share it with Tony.

It makes the engineer smile and press himself a little closer against the other man, feeling Loki’s arms shift to wrap around him in an embrace, in a _hug_. It’s nice.

Loki is warm and real and staring at Tony like he’s still confused by his good fortune. Tony thinks that, all things considered, it’s actually looking like a pretty good day.

**Author's Note:**

> Annnnd wasn’t that all cute and sweet? And in present tense! What the heck is this?? I almost never write it but it somehow worked?? For this fic?? Idk. But it’s what we got.
> 
> Also, have some bonus “I started writing this in Loki’s pov last night but didn’t like it and then came back and wrote it in Tony’s pov today, whoops” prose:
> 
> -
> 
> “When the dreams first started, Loki knew _exactly_ what they were and he woke up in a cold sweat, his mind still filled with damning images. The things he’d dreamed were almost innocent; a moment in Anthony’s lab, standing close and laughing... sitting close on a blanket beneath the stars with his hand over the mortal’s.
> 
> Loki could also remember the feel of Anthony in his mind; confused but going along with things, dreaming unknowingly as the mage’s mind opened itself up to the mortal.
> 
> He knew Anthony was oblivious, completely unaware of what had just happened.
> 
> It didn’t mean Loki wasn’t.
> 
> -
> 
> So feel free to imagine that as Loki’s thoughts on the opening process of the dreams??? Idk, I liked it too much to want to delete it outright, so bonus! XD
> 
> And! If you like sharing dream fics, you’re in luck as I have a few other ideas in the works/in my draft folder that deals with the concept. No promise on when I’ll get to them but ~eventually is the hope XD
> 
> Thanks for reading and commenting!


End file.
